Japan-U.S. Business Report articles from May 1999

Japan-U.S. Business Report archives from May 1999

Japanese Companies in the United States: CHEMICALS.
May 31, 1999... The Food and Drug Administration has approved for marketing LIDODERM (Lidocaine patch 5%), a patch dermal delivery system codeveloped by *TEIKOKU SEIYAKU CO., LTD. and *HIND HEALTHCARE INC. of Fresno, California. LIDODERM is the first product...

Japanese Companies in the United States: COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS.
May 31, 1999... Like fellow Japanese manufacturers of personal computers competing in the American market, *SONY CORP. now is giving buyers of its VAIO machines the option of customizing them. Using the Internet, people can select the features they want,...

Japanese Companies in the United States: ELECTRIC MACHINERY.
May 31, 1999... In a deal that expanded its already broad line of programmable controls, sensors, vision systems, operator interfaces and other types of industrial automation control equipment, *OMRON ELECTRONICS, INC. acquired *IDM CONTROLS, INC. The Houston...

Japanese Companies in the United States: ENERGY RESOURCES.
May 31, 1999... The increasingly poor economics of the nuclear power plant business have persuaded *HITACHI, LTD., *TOSHIBA CORP. and *GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. to combine their nuclear fuel operations (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No.E349, October 1998, p.E5)....

Japanese Companies in the United States: FINANCIAL SERVICES.
May 31, 1999... *HITACHI AMERICA CAPITAL, LTD. now is responsible for providing financing and financial support to all *HITACHI, LTD. subsidiaries and Hitachi Group companies operating in North America. A wholly owned subsidiary of Brisbane,...

Japanese Companies in the United States: FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
May 31, 1999... Through acquisitions, *SUNTORY LTD. has become the second-largest supplier of bottled water in the United States (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No.E353, February 1999, p.E7). Now, its Marietta, Georgia *SUNTORY WATER GROUP, INC. subsidiary is...

Japanese Companies in the United States: MERCHANDISING.
May 31, 1999... The worldOs largest chain of convenience stores has a new name. Dallas-headquartered *SOUTHLAND CORP., the operator or the franchiser of more than 5,600 7-Eleven stores in North America and roughly 18,500 in total, now is *7-ELEVEN, INC. That...

Japanese Companies in the United States: METALS AND FABRICATED PRODUCTS.
May 31, 1999... With overcapacity depressing the steel bar business in the United States, the parents of *USS/KOBE STEEL CO. have tentatively agreed to combine their steel bar operations with those of *BAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. of Fairlawn, Ohio and Massillon,...

Japanese Companies in the United States: NONELECTRIC MACHINERY.
May 31, 1999... Two recent acquisitions have made *WELTRONIC/TECHNITRON CORP. the worldOs largest provider of welding controls with annual sales of $50 million and 250 employees. The Carol Stream, Illinois subsidiary of *NADEX CO., LTD. bought the welding...

Japanese Companies in the United States: PHOTO EQUIPMENT AND COPIERS.
May 31, 1999... *TOSHIBA TEC CORP. -- formed in January after *TEC CORP., a major maker of point-of-sale systems and electronic cash registers, bought *TOSHIBA CORP.Os copier business -- has mapped out an aggressive expansion plan for the United States. It...

Japanese Companies in the United States: PRECISION AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT.
May 31, 1999... In a major expansion of its international cardiovascular device business, *TERUMO CORP. agreed to buy the cardiovascular systems unit of *MINNESOTA MINING & MANUFACTURING CO. Its operations, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Tustin, California,...

Japanese Companies in the United States: SEMICONDUCTORS.
May 31, 1999... In October, according to the current schedule, *FUJITSU, LTD. will launch volume production of 128-megabit synchronous DRAMs at its Gresham, Oregon wafer fabrication facility (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No.E348, September 1998, p.E6). It...

Japanese Companies in the United States: SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS.
May 31, 1999... Trader *SUMITOMO CORP. and its *PRESIDIO VENTURE PARTNERS U.S. venture capital arm joined another venture capital fund in providing a total of $6 million in financing to *HURRICANE TECHNOLOGY. This New York City-based start-up describes itself...

Japanese Companies in the United States: TELECOMMUNICATIONS.
May 31, 1999... The restructuring plan that *NEC CORP. devised to return to profitability will lead to some changes in its U.S. operations, although the full extent of the reorganization still is not known. Initially, the impact will be limited to the...

Japanese Companies in the United States: TEXTILES AND APPAREL.
May 31, 1999... Building on a February agreement to combine their international polyester film businesses in an equally owned venture (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No.E354, March 1999, p.E2), *TEIJIN LTD. and *E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS & CO., INC. will form a...

Japanese Companies in the United States: TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT.
May 31, 1999... To signify their closer ties, *SUZUKI MOTOR CORP. acquired over a period of weeks 500,000 shares of *GENERAL MOTORS CORP. stock at a total cost of $37.5 million. It now owns 0.07 percent of the automotive giant. Last fall, GM said that it was...

Japanese Companies in the United States: MISCELLANEOUS.
May 31, 1999... *MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD. has signed an agreement with *LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP. to produce under license the MK 41 vertical launching system for the Maritime Self-Defense ForceOs Murasame-class destroyers. This below-deck launching...

American Companies in Japan: CHEMICALS.
May 31, 1999... The economy might be in trouble, but *MERCK & CO., INC. and *PFIZER INC. are optimistic about their medium-term Japan prospects. So optimistic that both plan to expand their sales forces to the size of the biggest Japanese pharmaceutical...

American Companies in Japan: COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS.
May 31, 1999... The recession has been the undoing of *RIOS CORP., a contract manufacturer of notebook computers and a supplier of peripherals and software that *IBM JAPAN LTD. and *RICOH CO., LTD. formed in 1990 to better integrate their own products. The...

American Companies in Japan: CONSTRUCTION AND REAL ESTATE.
May 31, 1999... Competitive pressures are forcing the closure of the 100-room Century Hyatt Nagoya hotel. The hotel management subsidiary of *ODAKYU ELECTRIC RAILWAY CO., LTD. said the hotel, located in front of the Nagoya train station, would close at the...

American Companies in Japan: ELECTRIC MACHINERY.
May 31, 1999... *SOLECTRON CORP., which already has made a name for itself as a contract manufacturer for the industrial electronics industry, now has the distinction of being the first U.S.-based electronics manufacturing solutions provider to offer design...

American Companies in Japan: FINANCIAL SERVICES.
May 31, 1999... The Ministry of Justice has licensed an affiliate of *GMAC COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE CORP. and three other firms as the first companies authorized to act as loan servicers. Until the law changed in February, only lawyers could perform such functions...

American Companies in Japan: MERCHANDISING.
May 31, 1999... Will Japanese manufacturers of a cross section of products sell direct rather than through traditional wholesale channels? Are consumers in Japan interested in buying in bulk to save money? *COSTCO COS. INC. is finding out. It has opened the...

American Companies in Japan: NONELECTRIC MACHINERY.
May 31, 1999... *IMPCO TECHNOLOGIES INC., which sells equipment that allows internal combustion engines to operate on propane, natural gas and other clean gaseous fuels, acquired certain assets of the Fukuoka-based alternative fuel systems division of *MIKUNI...

American Companies in Japan: PRECISION AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT.
May 31, 1999... *MEADE INSTRUMENTS CORP. of Irvine, California, which bills itself as the worldOs leading manufacturer of astronomical telescopes for the serious amateur, gave Yokohama-based *MIC INTERNATIONAL CORP. exclusive rights to market its ETX-90EC...

American Companies in Japan: SEMICONDUCTORS.
May 31, 1999... *INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. reportedly is weighing the possibility of making next-generation system chips for digital TV sets, personal digital assistants and other coming digital personal electronics products at its Shiga...

American Companies in Japan: SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS.
May 31, 1999... Building on its position as the developer of the worldOs first and largest moving and relocation Web site, *VIRTUAL RELOCATION.COM, INC. has teamed with *NISSHO IWAI CORP. to bring this unique service to Japanese customers. The Portland,...

American Companies in Japan: TELECOMMUNICATIONS.
May 31, 1999... New, powerful examples are forever emerging of how corporate restructuring, deregulation and liberalization, and the other changes roiling Japan are creating new opportunities for outsiders. The latest addition to this series is the...

American Companies in Japan: TEXTILES AND APPAREL.
May 31, 1999... *PENDLETON WOOLEN MILLS, INC. has given *DAIWA SEIKO, INC. the right to manufacture shirts and sweaters and sell them under the Pendleton name. The sporting goods manufacturer has imported the Portland, Oregon companyOs clothing since 1996 for...

American Companies in Japan: TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT.
May 31, 1999... For any number of reasons, the expansion of *SATURN CORP.Os dealer network is not proceeding as fast as the companyOs subsidiary had planned. However, it has signed up the 17th Saturn dealer. In October, *AMIC CORP. will open a store in...

American Companies in Japan: MISCELLANEOUS.
May 31, 1999... Semiconductor manufacturers in Japan have a new source of high-purity fused quartz goods now that *PYROMATICS, INC. is represented locally. The Willoughby, Ohio producer named *TOMOE ENGINEERING CO., LTD. to handle three of its products:...